Deborah Kendrick commentary: End exemptions from minimum wage

Sunday

Feb 16, 2014 at 12:01 AMFeb 16, 2014 at 12:22 PM

Here's a brief (albeit possibly frightening) glimpse into the mind of a columnist. I was trolling various sites for stories relevant to disability rights and looking for a particular blog post. En route, though, I was distracted by a Valentine story about East African men.

Here’s a brief (albeit possibly frightening) glimpse into the mind of a columnist.

I was trolling various sites for stories relevant to disability rights and looking for a particular blog post. En route, though, I was distracted by a Valentine story about East African men.

“Kenyan men are the least romantic in East Africa, a new study shows,” the story proclaimed. “About half of Kenyan men are not excited to mark the day of love compared to their Ugandan and Tanzanian peers, who are looking forward to Valentine’s Day.

Four out of every 10 men from the region’s largest economy plan to spend a maximum of (2,000 Kenyan shillings) on gifts for their wives, fiancées or girlfriends.”

The fact rolled around in my brain for hours while I gathered information for this column.

How much is two thousand Kenyan shillings anyway?

About $23.16.

Whether you concur that $23.16 as a maximum gift price marks boyfriends as cheapskates or not, most will agree it’s not a huge amount of money.

It is, however, twice as much as many Americans take home in wages for a full day’s work.

When President Barack Obama signed the executive order this week to raise the minimum wage for federal contract workers to $10.10, people with disabilities were cheering wildly around the country. The president’s order specifically included this frequently excluded group of workers.

It does not, however, include everyone.

There are still some 400,000 American workers with disabilities who are not included in that minimum-wage order.

Section 14(c) of the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act gave dispensation to public or private entities holding special certificates, issued by the U.S. Secretary of Labor, to pay workers with disabilities (then called subnormal workers) any amount with no minimum.

Certificates held by public, private and nonprofit organizations in 2014 are the legal shields responsible for 400,000 workers being paid sometimes pennies per hour.

Arguments include statements like the following:

• These are workers with severe and multiple disabilities who can not do anything else.

• The workers in these jobs are being trained for competitive higher-paying employment.

• Being paid sub minimum wage is better than being paid nothing at all.

And the list goes on.

Rep. Greg Harper of Mississippi, along with so far 65 other Congressional representatives (three from Ohio), the National Federation of the Blind and some 60 other organizations representing people with disabilities, think otherwise.

The Fair Wages for People with Disabilities Act, House Resolution 831, would give organizations holding such special certificates one to three years to phase the practice out, thus raising all workers to minimum wage or higher.

And let’s talk about those “facts” stated above that are offered by proponents of this discriminatory practice.

If people are trained to do work that is in line with their abilities, rather than “dumbed down” based on their perceived disabilities, everyone can be productive.

The “sheltered workshops” conducting such programs do not train people for jobs beyond the menial tasks they are doing in a given facility, and less than five percent ever move beyond that “ protected” environment.

And yes, if you are humiliated and led to believe that you are not worthy to earn more than 22 cents or $1.15 per hour and that if you complain about it, you are likely to lose other supports you depend upon, then you are going to say that being paid next to nothing is indeed better than nothing itself.

Other models of employment, called Employment First, Supported Employment and Customized Employment have demonstrated that, by tailoring work to the abilities of an individual, those individuals currently deemed unable to work can become decidedly productive.

There is simply no excuse for paying anyone less than minimum wage in America. Many of the organizations hold the special wage certificates and thus exploiting workers with disabilities pay their top executives $500,000 and higher.

I never found the blog post I was looking for, and I’m not sure what I think about those Kenyan guys spending $23.16 on Valentine’s gifts.

I do know that anyone who has a disability or a child or cousin or friend or neighbor with a disability will know that to pay anyone less than minimum wage in America is just plain wrong.

Deborah Kendrick is a Cincinnati writer and advocate for people with disabilities.